Driving device for guiding rolled wire into a coiler



Oct. 11, 1960 G. MEINSHAUSEN 2,955,731

muvmc DEVICE FOR GUIDING ROLLED WIRE INTO A coma Filed July 14, 1958 Patented Get. it, 1960 =t Hii'ttenwerk Rheinhausen Aktiengesellschaft, Rheinhausen, Germany Filed July '14, 1958,'Ser. No. 748,521

"2' Claims. (01. 226-4 The present invention relates'to a driving device for guiding rolled wire into a coiler or reeling device. The rolled wire is conducted from a train of [rollers through an ascending guide tube to the coiler. In order to prevent the rolled wire from jamming or stopping in the guide tube in view of undue frictional resistance and in order to conduct the wire at uniform speed into the coiler against any frictional resistance and while overcoming the difference in level, it is known to provide a pair of driven rollers or pulleys which by passing the wire therebetween feed the latter in the desired direction. If the surface of the rollers or pulleys which contacts the wire is smooth, it can easily occur that the rollers or pulleys fail to grip the wire. If the respective contact surfaces of said rollers or pulleys are grooved, knurled or roughened, the wire may be damaged by said contact surface. Moreover, when a wire, especially profiled wire, passes between a pair of rollers or pulleys under pressure, the wire may easily be de formed so that there is a limit to the pressure to be exerted upon the rollers or pulleys for establishing a firm grip with the wire to be passed therebetween. Wires with transverse grooves, projections or the like cannot be driven at all by a pair of rollers or pulleys.

Generally, the Wire immediately prior to its entering the coiler or reeling device is deflected by a correspondingly bent guiding tube from its inclinedpath into a vertical position. The employment of such tubes becomes progressively more unfavorable as the speed of travel of the Wire through the tube is increased. This is due to the fact that the high centrifugal force acting upon the wire where it changes its direction brings about a considerable frictional resistance in the zone of change of direction of said wire which cannot be overcome by the driving devices heretofore known.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a driving device for the purpose outlined above, which will overcome the drawbacks of the heretofore known driving devices of the type involved.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a driving device for introducing rolled wire into a coiler or reeling device the principle of which may be used for wires of any crosssection without the risk of damages to the wire and without encountering any jamming or undue stopping.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly from the following specification in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is-a diagrammatic side elevation of a driving device according to the invention showing a tubular guide for the rolled Wire between the last pair of a train of rolls and a coiler having driving means associated therewith.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken along the line' 11-11 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken along the line IH-III of Fig. 2.

The invention consists primarily in that within the range of the change of direction of the wire there is provided a guide tube for the wire which is bent within said range of change of direction of the wire and while being open at its outer side extends into a suitably driven driving disc provided with a marginal flange so that said guiding tube forms with said driving disc a guiding channel for the wire of substantially closed cross section.

Inasmuch as the driving disc is drivingly connected with driving means, the friction between the wire and the driving disc can be utilized for feeding the wire. To this end, the driving disc is rotated at a circumferential speed exceeding the rate of travel of the wire.

A device according to the principle of the present invention may be employed for wires of all cross sections inasmuch as the wire is not engaged any longer by rollers or pulleys and is not clamped therebetween but is advanced merely by friction brought about by the frictional engagement of the wire with the driving disc as caused by the centrifugal force acting upon the wire.

For the sake of completenessrit maybe .added that it is known in connection with the rolling of wire, between two passes for reducing the friction during a change of direction toconduct the wire over a rotating direction changer which is so designed that the wire will jump out therefrom when the wire introduced into the next pass exerts a back pressure upon the wire loop in the direction changer in order to render possible an unimpeded increase and decrease in the size of the wire loop. 1

In contrast thereto, the arrangement according to the present invention in which a wire is conducted through a pipe to the coiler, the frictional resistance in the distributing or coiling arm of the coiler will be overcome by generating a powerful frictional force in the rotating driving disc which force feeds the wire forward since the guide tube for the wire forms with the driving disc a feeding channel of substantially closed contour so that the wire is prevented from leaving this feeding channel.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the structure i1- lustrated therein shows the last pair of rollers 1 of the train of rollers between which the rolled wire 2 passes in the direction of the arrow A. The wire 2 then enters a guide tube 3 which is upwardly inclined and feeds the wire 2 upwardly over direction changer means 6, 7 into the upper end of the coiling arm 4 of a coiler 5. The direction changer means comprises a feeding or driving disc 6 which replaces the bent tube that was heretofore usually employed for changing the direction of the wire and had the above mentioned disadvantages. The tube 3 is bent in the zone of the change of direction to correspond with the shape of the feeding disc and is open at its outer side so that the wire passing through the tube can move outwardly through the open portion at the outside of the tube and engage the inner face of a peripheral flange 7 on the feeding disc 6. The feeding disc 6 is rotatably journalled and drivingly connected with driving means so that it may be rotated at a speed corresponding to or higher that the rate of travel of the wire so that the feeding disc will exert africtional pull on the wire.

The rotatably journalled feeding disc 6 which is particularly clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3 has a cylindrical flange 7. The tube 3 forming a guide channel for the Wire 2 has a curved portion extending into the feeding disc 6. The outer wall of said curved portion has been removed within the range of said flange 7 of the feeding disc which is inclined toward said channel. Consequently, the wire can pass through a gap in the guide channel and rest against the inner wall of said marginal flange. The flange covers said gap in the guide channel so that the Wire is completely enclosed during its change in direction and is prevented from leaving its prescribed path. The feeding disc 6 may be driven in any convenient manner, for instance through bevel gears 8, 9 which in their-turn are driven by a prime mover (not shown).

Expediently, the driving or feeding mechanism for the wire is controlled from a point of the coiler in such a way that the rate of travel of the wire in the feeding mechanism will be in conformity with the speed of the coiler.

It is, of course, to be understood that the present invention is, by no means, limited to the particular construction shown in the drawing but also comprises any modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A feeding device for feeding rolled wire into a coiler, which comprises in combination: a receiving station, a direction changing station, a guide tube leading from said receiving station to said direction changing station for guiding a wire received at said receiving station to said direction changing station and from there to the coiler, said guide tube having a bent portion located adjacent said direction changing station and being open at its outer peripheral portion, rotatable feeding disc means arranged at said direction changing station and adjacent the open portion of said bent portion of said guide tube, said feeding disc means forming with the adjacent open portion of said bent guide tube portion a passage of substantially closed cross section to thereby prevent the wire to be passed through said open bent guide tube portion from jumping out of the latter, and means drivingly connected to said feeding disc means for driving the latter to exert a frictional pull upon the wire portion passing through the open bent guide tube portion.

2. A method of feeding rolled wire from a train of rolls through a guide tube to a coiler, which includes the steps of: passing the wire through a curved guide tube between said train of rolls and said coiler, subjecting said wire in said curved portion of said guide tube to a force causing a portion of the wire in said curved portion temporarily to leave said guide tube, and exerting a frictional pulling force from the outside upon that portion of the wire only which temporarily leaves said guide tube.

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